SCUBA Diving Malaysia: Rawa Island Resort

Malaysia beach resorts may not be as
famous as their Southeast Asian neighbours, but this means that the marine life
can often be more pristine. If you’re keen on snorkeling in Malaysia or SCUBA
diving somewhere that’s an easy commute from Singapore, you should certainly be
look at Rawa Island Resort says Adam
Cheang. The Resident Divemaster says the reef there is some of the most
beautiful and diverse he has ever seen – and many of the fish can be spotted
just walking in offshore. He takes suitcases&strollers
on a virtual tour of what it feels like to snorkel and dive at Rawa Island
Resort with kids – get your goggles and swimsuit ready as you’ll definitely be
inspired.

The Sultan Iskandar Marine Park
is special because Rawa Island lies in its zone. I have never seen a
coral reef, so close to a beach, with such a high volume of tourism, in such a
healthy state. The staff of the sea sports centre on Rawa Island Resort all
love the ocean and intend to keep it that way. We inform all our guests coming
through not to step on the corals and discourage them from kayaking or swimming
and snorkeling at low tide when they have the highest chance of “resting” on
corals or breaking them with the kayak paddles.

Rawa is also unique because it offers a
chance to enjoy shallow dives (6 to 7 metres) just off the beach which are more
interesting and beautiful than some boat dives that I have done.

Comparing it to other marine park,
guests have mentioned that they have had a better experience snorkeling and
diving here than places like The Maldives, both in terms of the quality of the
diving and the quality of the safety standards.

For instance, our staghorn table coral
10 metres off the beach has also grown to humongous proportions and the range
of fish – from babies to midsize to adults – and feeding styles – grazers
(parrot fish, rabbitfish, butterflyfish) to top predators (sharks, eels,
trevally, barracuda, Spanish mackerel) – indicate the health of our
reefs.

Typical
Marine Life On A Guided Snorkeling Tour With Kids At Rawa Island Resort

The first thing is a demonstration of
how corals protect themselves when attacked. Zoanthus coral (a hermatypic coral
with extended polyps which looks like algae until closer inspection) is
prominent on our house reef. To catch their eye, I will dive and swish water on
to the coral causing them to retract into their skeleton of calcium carbonate
and a very clear colour change is seen. If I free dive and swish water, a trail
of where I have passed can clearly be seen from the surface.

Porites star coral boulders feature on
our reef as well. Big bommies (coral boulders) are found all along the reef
edge and on the inside as well. They support large communities of damselfish,
angelfish, spotted groupers, coral trout, morays, sweetlips and snappers that
take refuge from predators in the nooks and crannies available to it. Although
some of the star coral bommies have been grazed on by sea urchins, other
corals, more resistant to urchin grazing, have recolonised it. This is the
cycle of predator and prey, birth and death.

Some of the bommies also house pufferfish,
porcupinefish and the commonly seen blue-spotted stingray.

Right on the Rawa reef edge, at a depth
of 7 metres depending on the tide, are a couple of giant clams whose shells are
about half a metre long. If the visibility is good, lucky snorkelers will be
able to see them from the surface. If it is not so good, a dive to a couple of
metres down and snorkelers can normally see them, especially if I'm on the
bottom, right next to them, pointing them out.

I will also take snorkellers to view
some of my favourite species of anemone with a resident clownfish. Most people
are familiar the common magnificent sea anemone with its Nemo fish (these are
common on our Rawa house reef), but have you seen a bubble-tip anemone
(bulb-tentacle anemone)? Ours comes with one juvenile tomato clownfish,
so-named because of their deep red colour. It is really cute and comes out to
you when you get close as if to say hello. But do not be fooled! The clownfish
is the fiercest bodyguard of the anemone (also an animal) protecting its home
from the slightest provocation no matter how big or small. This is truly my
favourite thing on the reef. Accessible on a snorkel or a SCUBA dive, I never
fail to visit it every time I go out.

Following this and a short swim (or tow,
depending on how tired you are and your swimming ability) we come up to a field
of magnificent sea anemone. Nestled in the staghorns are a large number of 60
to 70 sea anemones with different species of clownfish inhabiting them.

Along the way, I will freedive and
attempt to spot other cool colourful stuff like crabs and shrimps and point
them out to the snorkelers.

On the return to the beach, snorkellers
will be taken over the most beautiful coral beds on the Rawa house reef. Just
before they hit the beach, they will be shown the colourful babies of the giant
clams which have taken root in the boulders and corals that litter the reef
edge close to the Rawa beach.

The Rawa reef is a dynamic organism and
things move all the time. What I have written is general and involves mostly sessile
organisms. No two snorkel tours are exactly the same. Depending on the time of
day, the tides, the time of year, every snorkeler is guaranteed an absolutely
unique experience in terms of what they may see.

SCUBA
Diving Around Rawa Island Resort With Kids

Diving at Rawa with kids is a great
opportunity to watch a PADI Divemaster with 8 years of guiding under his belt
in action. I’m focused on ensuring their safety, the integrity of their gear,
conducting briefings, defogging their mask (the most important step) and
leading a dive with confidence and an eagle eye for spotting critters.

We have two rather spectacular shore
dives off the beach on Rawa Island. Again, no two dives are the same but being
at depth with compressed air gives us a chance to spend more time under the
water and observe the different facets of the coral reef behaving in their
natural environment.

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Our first dive on the Rawa house reef
starts out on the bommie with the giant clams. Schools of fusilier fish can be
observed traversing the length of the reef edge searching and feeding on
nutritious microscopic zooplankton and phytoplankton. The dive continues with
the search for interesting critters that dot the reef. Polyclad flatworms, phyllidia (sea slugs) and chromodoris nudibranches are
some of the macro life that we can find on our Rawa house reef.

There are many anemones that lay along
our Rawa house reef but only two of them contain communities of tiny anemone
shrimp. I will lead the dive towards the anemone shrimp and point these out. It
is always fulfilling to watch the divers' eyes light up when they finally spot
these minuscule critters up close and personal.

Because of the shallow depth of the Rawa
house reef, it is possible to spend more than an hour underwater if divers are
conservative on air. This gives us a chance to marvel at the beautiful
underwater structural coral which have taken several decades to form. Schools
of striped snapper, long toms, zebrafish, rabbitfish, wrasses and clownfish are
permanent residents of the Rawa reef.

If you are lucky, we may spot a shark
but be quick. A flick of the tail and they're gone! Schooling squids also do
make an occasional appearance. Stingrays are a more common occurence on the
reef as are groupers and sweetlips. Stingrays gliding out into the blue is a
breathtaking sight! Cuttlefish are also some of the coolest things to spot
underwater. Their ability to change their colour and blend into their
surroundings never ceases to amaze me.

We do have a resident giant moray and
some baby white-eyed morays living on our Rawa reef. Again, depending on our
luck and other variables such as time of day and tides, they may or may not be
seen.

The second beach dive from Rawa Island
on Dragon Rock (depth of 12 to 14 metres), offers a chance for divers to spot
the pteraeolidia ianthina nudibranch commonly known as the
blue dragon or aeolids. At a length of 2 to 7 centimetres, these feather-like
creatures crawl along rock faces in search of their favourite coral dish in the
same manner we humans scan a buffet line for your favourite item. Again,
watching divers finally realising what they are looking at is remarkably
fulfilling.

Dragon Rock is also home to Rawa's own
spotted moray eel. This rather docile yet intimidating looking creature is a
marvel to look at. Picture a snow leopard coat on an eel. That's exactly what
it looks like. It takes a little searching before finding him but, luckily, I know
the general area in which to begin looking.

Dragon Rock is a great dive site with
isolated coral boulders spread out on the sea floor. Due to its depth, Dragon Rock
is also home to some of the bigger predators such as barracuda, queenfish,
trevally and the occasional eagle ray.

Night dives are another story.

One of my best experiences on a dive on
the Rawa house reef was watching a banded sea snake, one of the most venomous
snakes in the world, swim around hunting for food in between the corals. It was
absolutely breathtaking observing this graceful creature (at a safe distance of
a bout 2 to 3 metres away, of course) gliding through the water effortlessly
searching for its next meal. Knowing that a single venomous bite can kill added
to the adventure and adrenalin factor.

Snorkelers and divers needn't fear
however. Its head is barely the size of an adult's index finger and its mouth,
tinier; its teeth, minuscule and it is never aggressive unless provoked.

To give some perspective, I've seen a
clownfish win a fight with a banded sea krait. So you'd better be more afraid
of a clownfish! Treat a sea snake with respect and you will soon learn that
they are more afraid of you than you are of it.

Beach
Safety at Rawa With Kids

Snorkelling and swimming kind of go
together but for less advanced swimmers, we have life jackets available for
rent which will keep your head above water even in the most rough conditions.

I always keep my eye on the beach to
make sure everyone is playing safely on the slide, jetty and in the water. Some
horsing around is tolerated and even expected, but making sure no one gets hurt
or is put at risk by the behaviour of others is a priority. Scream and I will
come get you, Baywatch style!

The reef edge is a short swim, less than
20 metres out from the beach. Strong swimmers normally make it on their own.
Less strong swimmers and even non-swimmers are towed by yours truly on a round
life buoy which is a permanent feature of the snorkel tour. Even strong
swimmers hang on to it while I have a chat about what we are looking at or when
they have questions. It acts as an emergency lifeline (the buoy is attached to
me at all times during the tour). I've towed a family of four non swimmers (the
maximum number of people I take out on these excursions) without problems until
the currents decided to change. In that case I bring them out of the water and
drop in ahead of the current and let the current drive us along the tour in
reverse.

It is no more dangerous swimming around
Rawa then it is swimming around any island in the open sea. Be prudent. Know
yourself and your limitations. Know the tides and respect the tidal movement of
the water. Lots of water movement means that the currents around the island
will be strong. Lots of wind means it will be choppy. Don't be a hero. Wear a
life jacket and a pair of fins. Although I know some strong swimmers who have
gone around the 3.2 kilometres of the island without a life jacket or fins in
less than an hour, not everyone is a triathlete.

Sharks
and Jellyfish at Rawa

The last confirmed unprovoked shark
attack in Malaysia is so long ago, no one can even remember what year it was
and there has only been one. The standing joke in the dive centre is that all
the sharks are vegetarian so they only eat Buddhists! Basically, agressive
sharks are bigger sharks which require bigger prey such as seals and penguins.
These kinds of prey are only present in colder climes. Luckily, tropical Asia
is not a hunting ground.

Jellyfish are almost planktonic in
nature (unable to control their own movement) and are subject to the winds and
prevailing currents in the region. We had an appearance of the blue-button
jellyfish from Australia during the transition period between the two monsoons
this year. They can result in mild, almost benign stings for humans. For
microzooplankton though, its a different story. Other jellyfish stings are
rarely that serious (in Asia anyway). Some discomfort will be experienced but
this is generally quickly remedied by a vinegar rub. Again, be prudent. Refrain
from entering the water if a jellyfish invasion is occuring.

At the least, wear a rashguard to
protect from exposure to stinging cells expelled from corals. (Yes, corals
sting too.)

What
to Wear When Swimming at Rawa With Kids

Other than the regular snorkeling (mask,
snorkel, fins, life jacket) and SCUBA gear (mask, snorkel, fins, boyency
control device, tank, weight belt and regulator) which are all available for
rent in the dive shop, I wouldn't really recommend a full wetsuit. In waters
this warm, its a good way to get heat exhaustion unless you're doing three or
four dives a day. However everyone's physiology is a little different. Some
people get colder than others. We do not stock wetsuits for rent but we have a
complement of rashguards which are more than enough to keep one warm in balmy
30 degree water. I generally dive in a rashie and board shorts. Unless I'm on 3
to 4 dives a day and a night dive. In which case, I'll bust out the suit.

We do stock kids sizes of fins and
mask/snorkels both for rent and sale and there is not really a need for guests
to purchase from the mainland and bring their own. (Although, having your own
gear does make you more confident.) Of course, should you have eyesight issues
(such as astigmastism or shortsightedness) you will have much more fun if you
have powered lenses in your mask. You will need to bring those with you.